Park Slope Tourists

My parents came into town today for a visit, they will be here until Wednesday and we are very excited!  We spent the day exploring my ‘hood and everyone had a great time.  I will say in advance that there were a lot of indulgences!  It is way too late, once again, so this is a pretty cursory review.

I started my morning off right with this fellow –

A small green juice from a spot on Flatbrush.  I had them add carrot to this and it was very, very tasty.

My parents, being islanders and all, were very excited to hit up Target so that was our first stop.  While we were there we got “brunch” at Buffalo Wild Wings (no, this was obviously not a spot we needed to show off, but my mom and dad couldn’t eat on the plane and food was a necessity).  I got the naked tenders.

They came with blue cheese, honey bbq, and potato wedges.

I ate 3 out of 4 pieces of chicken and gobbled up the fries.  I love that NY menus post calories, there is no way I would have guessed that what I ate had only about 350calories.

From there we hit up the farmers market at Prospect Park.

 My parents loved it here!  We bought macaroons to munch while we walked around,

and the four of us split a strawberry cider.

Next up, we went to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.

We had a great time walking around.  The coolest exhibit was called “Wicked Plants,” and it showcased plants that are psychotropic, deadly, or illegal.  It was a lot of fun.

 

After that we headed to my apartment so my parents could check the place out (they are staying in a hotel, it works for my girlfriends to stay in one room with us, but my mom and dad wanted space!).  I was very happy to share a big sampling of Newman’s Own Organics with them – they were very excited about it 🙂

For dinner we wanted to stay local so we went to Perch, a fun spot on 5th.

We did a lot of sharing so my portions are not very clear, but you can assume I had more than my fair share!  They brought homemade bagel chips to the table as soon as we sat down.

I ordered a Bloody Mary to drink.

I’ve only had this at brunch but I feel like they can rock it at dinner, I love the spiciness.

We split the beer and cheese fondue wolaver’s organic brown ale, sharp cheddar

 

It came with bread chunks and apple slices and was absolute perfection!

We also split the most amazing salad I’ve ever had.

It was Waldorf inspired and had apples, buttermilk dressing, candied nuts and grapes.

I felt the need to extend the cheesiness to my entree (not a good idea) and I ordered the mac and cheese blend of grueyere, cheddar, blue cheese, and green onions.

 

It was good but cheese followed by cheese was just too much for me, I only ate about 1/3.  I shared some big bites of everyone’s sandwiches too.

I ralied in time for dessert and ordered the maple ginger bread pudding.

 

It wasn’t all that good, it was much more like a loaf of bread then a pudding, but I was pretty buzzed and self-control flew out the window.  I ate about 1/2 and gave myself a tummy ache.

A and I walked my parents back to their hotel and then made a treck (1.5miles) to the movie theatres.  I don’t know what was worse, the fact that Transformers sucked so badly or that I polished off this medium popcorn without any help from A.

Yuck, all around.

And, once again, it is time for a late late bedtime.  Hasta!

What bad movies have you seen lately?

Numero Uno

I am in much better spirits 🙂  We finally made some (basic) choices, which I will be sharing with readers by the end of this week.  Plus I saw Year One this afternoon which made me laugh.  Andthen I got to catch up with an old college friend.

J and I worked at the on-campus bar together at University of Miami.  She is in law school here in NY which means she is as busy as I am and we never see each other!  It is almost summer now so we managed a double date at South Street Seaport.  I was wicked thirsty on the train so I slammed a lemonade as soon as I reached the Seaport.

Then I met up with A, who had been out drinking with school friends, and finally we met up with J and her boyfriend.  Some of the restaurants at the Seaport are a bit iffy so we ended up at Unos.  I was pretty much stuffed still from movie popcorn so I made a light dinner choice.

Soup and salad.  Soup was vegetable – Carrots, celery, corn, beans, onions, spinach, red bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini in a low fat vegetarian broth (135calories).

 

And the salad was the Gorgonzola Walnut Side Salad – Mixed lettuces, tomato, red onion, cucumber, honey glazed walnuts, Gorgonzola, croutons and low fat blueberry pomegranate vinaigrette (280calories).

I ate about 2/3 of the soup and salad.  Even though I didn’t clean my plate I did manage to snag a few bites of A’s brownie sundae dessert.

Yums!  I frickin love living in NY so much – having the calories posted on the menus takes away all of my ordering anxiety.  There are times when I really don’t care between two options and the idea that one of them could potentially have 1,000 more calories when I don’t even prefer it freaks me out.

We got done with dinner around 10:30 and A and headed home because I need to be up early tomorrow for my 2nd foray into Physique57.  Sweet dreams all!

Does your town post nutritional stats?  What do you think about the practice? 

I am generally unsure about things that put an emphasis on calories.  The amount of young girls who are concerned about weight (and additionally engaging in unhealthy practices) is staggering.  If I hear some one commenting about calories when I am eating I feel deeply uncomfortable.  However, I strongly support posting nutritional stats.  While I have slight reservations that this practice may deprive some young girls typical childhood experiences (“A corn dog at a ball game with dad has how many calories?!  No thanks!”) I think that starting a dialogue is a good thing.  And on the flip side there are times when I am surprised by how low the number is, rather than high.  Just as it’s good for people to be aware of excess, I am glad people eating too little have the information in front of them rather than (over)estimating.

Additionally, (thankfully or sadly?) people who are too concerned about calorie counts are the minority in American society.  People complain about parents who don’t bother to have the sex talk with their children, what about the trans fat talk?  Or the calcium talk?  Or for my children, the why we don’t eat candy for breakfast and lunch talk.  Putting nutritional information right on the menu opens up a opportunity for communication.

Finally, as an informed adult I appreciate my ability to be armed with all of the facts when I make a food choice in NYC.  Even as someone who is concerned with health, cooks, reads articles, etc I am often surprised by how much I over/underestimate the calories in restaurant meals.  While it is not feasible to ask Mom and Pop spots to call in a team of analysts, chain restaurants are employing nutritionists anyways, why not make their knowledge public for the good of the consumer?

Newman’s Own Organics Rocks My Socks

There are so many things to be excited about in this post I don’t even know where to begin!  My train breakfast was a favorite,

Peanut Butter Cookie is my favorite Lara flavor by far.

School was easy today – I taught 2 periods, had 2 periods of graduation rehearsal, and then had a half day.  We had a quick labeling assignment to do and then I had the afternoon to start cleaning my classroom.  I gave Mr. H 99% of my stuff so I’m glad all the chart paper I slaved over will not be going to waste.

For lunch I went the trail mix route.

I call this Peanut Better Trail Mix.  1/4C each peanuts, dried blueberries, and pb m&m’s for a filling 570 serving.

This was bigger calorie-wise and smaller volume-wise than what I usually pack but I ended up feeling in good full-ness and enjoyment.  I also had a baggie of green grapes.

 The school provided lunch, which I obviously skipped, but I did eat a slice of unphotographed cheese cake.

I left for home promptly at 3o’clock and got slammed with a migraine before I even made it in the front door.  I almost missed my fun activity but thank goodness medicine and a nap kicked in on time.  This didn’t hurt to perk me up either.

When I saw fellow Brooklyn bloggers getting Newman’s Own Organics boxes (complete with fancy mints I’d never seen before) a while back I was quite jealous.  Several people recommended that I ask for my own and I decided to plead wildlynicely request my own sample.  Sally more than generously agreed and I expected a small sampling.  Holy frick.

Re-dic-u-lous amount of food.  A and I were deeply struck by the generousity.  Expect to be seeing a ton of Newman’s Organic Own products in my posts for the next 10 years 🙂

I floated on a cloud of thankfulness and happy thoughts to my next activity – another fitness first, this time with Vani.  We did a 45 minute spin class at Crunch.  This was my 1stish try at spinning and I sucked but I also loved it.  My history?  My mommy loves to spin but I’ve always been a bit scared of it.  

The one time I did go to a class with her I was the youngest person in the room by at least 20years and the worst by at least 50 gasps per minute!  I did my best to keep up but about 5 minutes in my foot slid out of the strap and my knee slammed into the handle.  What’s worse than getting your butt kicked by the last generation?  Having to leave early, bloody! 

This time I still sucked, but I made it through the entire class, all limbs intact.  Sadly, we have no more gym membership as of July 1st but I am going to try to attend a few gym classes over the next two weeks.

After class Vani and I walked down to 7th Avenue for some fresh juice.  I got carrot-papaya-apple.

This was the perfect pick me up.  Plus it filled me up and basically became dinner.  I did have about 1/4 of A’s tuna salad sub when I got home.

And A spent the rest of our evening doing some serious discussing.  There is a LOT going on right now with plans for next year and I got some very interesting news today.  Hopefully by the end of the week I should be able to give you guys some updates.

Now it’s much too late and I’ve got to hurry to bed, night!

Have you ever tried spinning?  What’d you think?

Sunday Side Up

Sunday night was our “going out night,” which clearly had something to do with why I didn’t post last night!  I actually didn’t drink very much, but I’m feeling a little sick this morning so I think there is something up with my stomach.  Yesterday was the best New York spring day.  Everything was just so wonderful, I got pretty choked up when I thought about moving away.

Sunday morning A worked on his ‘Husband of the Year’ award by making breakfast for my friends and I.

I was served 2 eggs sunny side up with toast with SmartBalance.  It was very yummy – A makes the best eggs.

After breakfast we headed out to do some NY exploring – we met up with some of K’s family in China Town!  Our first stop had to be bubble tea.

I got a strawberry milk tea with bobba,

delish!  We had a pretty great walk, we looped through China Town to Little Italy and finally into SoHo.  I took my first trip to the pearl trading company and feel in love – I even got some gifts for some of my fellow Brooklyn bloggers.

I took them to Economy Candy so they could get some gifts and then I continued to spread the obsession by showing everyone Sugar Sweet Sunshine.  You know I got a pistachio cupcake!

Seriously, I don’t even like cupcakes, but this might be my favorite dessert of all time.

Then it was time to head home and change for dinner.  K’s cousin lives in Williamsburg so we headed there for dinner and drinks.  We did dinner at Planet Thailand (where the first blogger meet up was).  I loved the way they incorporated beer bottles into the bar decor –

For my dinner drink I got a Dirty Jolly Rancher.

And to eat, Pad See Eiw.

I subsituted vegetarian duck for beef.  Somehow my drink had really kicked in and I was so tipsy by the time dinner came that I devoured the entire plate and felt very ill.  I ended up getting a diet coke at our next stop – Alligator Lounge.  But I did eat two slices of mini pizza.

Alligator Lounge gives you a free mini pizza with every drink you order!  Our next stop was even better though – Barcade.  1.  The outside wall is a mural made of beer bottle tops.

 

2. There is a Space Invaders scene in the bottle tops.

3. The reason for the Space Invaders is because Barcade is stocked with tons of old video arcade games!A caught a shot of me rocking out Tetris.

I also got my butt kicked in Quebert, Dig Dug, and several others.  All while enjoying an Abita Turbodog.

Abita Strawberry will always be my favorite, but for a dark beer this was pretty darn good!

We came home and crashed and today – I’m late and I’ve got to run, See Ya!

Can’t Hold a Candle

Un-Frickin-Believable Day!  Every single minute of this day has rocked my socks (and some of my best friends will be here in mere minutes!)!

I had plans of getting up for a run this morning but I’ve had a really hard time falling asleep this week and I ended up sleeping way in (the lack of exercise was the only un-awsome thing today).  When I did finally get up it was time to do so I scurried out the door and ate another train breakfast.

Lara bars are just so good, Coconut Cream Pie is one of my favorite flavors.

I don’t know whether the universe decided to finally cut me a break or what but today was my best day all year.  Every single class was quiet for 2 straight periods and 95% of my students read the entire story, answered every question, and volunteered to share out.  If I had been grading today I would have legitimatly given almost every single student a 95-100%.  I was seriously so happy all day.  I have no idea what worked so well, my lesson was on folktales (we just finished a few weeks on fairy tales).  We took notes on key elements, I did a short read aloud, and then the kids read a (longish!) folk tale on their own and analyzed it.  I think part of what helped is that most people stop teaching in June so they were taken off gaurd by the fact that I am still full-force doing lessons.

For lunch I did another museli, this one was much more pleasing than the last.

Nonfat plain Fage, chopped nectarine, 1/4C oats.

I also added a dollop of Stonewall Kitchen Triple Berry Preserves.  I had a bunch of kids in my room at lunch and they were very curious about what I was eating – museli is beyond strange to them!

I stayed after school a little bit to work with students and then headed to the train with some coworker friends.  Somehow I ended up talking two of them into getting a drink with me even though we all had to hurry to other plans.  We stopped at a place in the Slope and I got the best strawberry mojito I’ve ever tasted.  I also ate some communal chips and salsa.  Sorry for no photos – my camera stays home some school days.

I didn’t have much time to relax by the time I got home but I did send some e-mails and eat a few of these Chocorooms.

Then A and I freshened up and headed into the city.  We’ve been planning this date for weeks and I was very excited.  I love going to the Upper East Side, even the subways are fancy!

Our final destination?

 

Candle Cafe.  An organic, vegan, spot that serves mostly local food.  I don’t know how I managed to drag my husband here but he ended up loving it!  A got the potato cauliflower soup as an appetizer.

I had a few bites and it was great.  At this point they dimmed the lights and my pictures go steadily downhill.  I was excited most about this:

I took a flash picture so you could catch the true oranginess.

Sweet Potato Pie Smoothie.  Holey frick; sweet potato, vanilla help milk, cinnamon, and maple syrup.  This was too delicious, I couldn’t stop raving about it.

For dinner I ordered the Indian Plate.

It was basically a sampler – potato cauliflower curry, black-eye pea marsala, yellow basmati rice, date raisin chutney, cabbage sald and parata bread.

It was fabulous!  This was my first major foray into Indian and I am hooked (Brooklyn blogger gals, I am so excited for next week!).  The bread was out of this world, my favorite thing was the curry.  I left all of the rice untouched but I basically licked the rest of the plate clean 🙂

A and I were pretty stuffed at this point but we were on a roll so we got dessert.  I ordered the cherry chocolate cheesecake.

I thought it was pretty good but A fell in loooove and made me switch after a few bites.  I ended up with his chocolate mousse.

Which I actually liked better, love how that works out!  All total I ate about 1/3 of each desserts.  We brought the rest home for my friends who are coming in tonight.

Stuffed to the gills, but in a healthy feeling way, we headed back home.  Now we are waiting for my girlfriends to get in, their flights were delayed so we decided a cab was a better idea than meeting them at the airport.  I’m not sure what my blogging will look like over this weekend, but I will try to at least do a big recap.  I am so excited!

Freaks!

Are you a freak?  This post is going to be freakishly big because I didn’t post yesterday.  A and I’ve been up to lots of stuff, trying to stretch out the long weekend as loooooong as possible.  We did lots of eating, which we slightly countered with lots of walking, but I feel like this is a good week to get back to healthy habits!

On Sunday we slept in (I stayed up past 3 with my Scrubs marathon!) and then A and I finally made it to this historic spot.

On the way there we split a ww bagel with strawberry cream cheese.

The cream cheese had real strawberries in it!

I at all of mine and a few bites of A’s half too.

A 45minute later we were in the land of dreams – Coney Island!  The had a fabulous day, seeing the sites, eating the food, boozing it up, and riding the rides!  We spent some time exploring the streetside first.

 

And then we wandered down to the ocean and the boardwalk.

Next it was time for Beer Island.

 

The bartender was super nice and let A and I sample all of the Coney Island brews.

 

A got the Blockhead Ale and I ended up with the Albino Python.

It was good, but I got about 1/3 through before I gave mine to A.

Then we split a fresh-squeeze lemonade.

And I had my share of this FOOT of strawberry daquari.

 

We had a great time on the boardwalk – I love old food signs.

Then it was time for the attractions! 

We played some games, rode the Wonder Wheel,

 

saw a freak show,

and rode the Cyclone.

 

We did the Cyclone last and good thing, I was all shook up!  I love rollercoasters but this wooden guy beat you up, my neck still hurts!

We left the park around 4 and I’d waited too long to eat so I had one of A’s chicken fingers.

On the subway home I ate a pecan roll I bougth at the famous candy store.

Once we got back to our ‘hood it seemed like time for more sweets so we split a small peanut butter cookie dough ice.

I had never heard of “ice” before I moved to NYC but basically they have less cream than ice-cream.  Plus check out the nutritional stats –

This was soooo good, I’d been craving frozen yogurt and this more than hit the spot.

After we freshened up at home we went out for a long walk.  Midway I stopped at a small Jamaican spot and bought a fresh soursop juice.

Yum!  Soursop is my favorite, this made me miss home so much.

We walked up to the Arch to see the fountain on for the first time this spring.

We got a late dinner from a local Chinesse place – I had Kung Pow Tofu.

Not good at all.  Help me!  Does anyone know of a good Chinesse place in Brooklyn?

Sunday morning we slept in again – gotta stretch out that weekend! – then finally got up and did a little school work.  We decided to honor our Burrito Bar obsession with an early lunch – how can you not love a spot with complimentary homemade salsa and chips?

A and I split a smoothie – Cher’s Forever Young, orange juice, orange sherbet, soymilk.

 

Yum, I’ve been craving smoothies since our blender died, we would usually be making so many right now.  I went simple for A but I will be going back to get one with actual berries.

For lunch I ordered the turkey mini burgers.

They were 6 burgers with different toppings (lowfat sour cream, guac, and cheese) that came with french fries.

Everything was good, but for some reason my appetite hadn’t kicked in yet – I ate 4 mini burgers and only a few fries.

Then A and I headed up to the city for another doctors appointment for my foot.  I limped out sadly so A took me to Wendy’s for a frosty (small, with cookie dough).

I realize I basically ate this yesterday, but it’s the weekend damnit!

When we came home I had to finally crack down and do some school work.  My plans are done for the week, all my materials have been copied, and I’ve done 85% of my posters.  While I worked I ate some SmartFood.

I treked to Staples for my copies and then A and I went to Starbucks to knock out our grading.  I had a snack while we worked – fresh fruit, cookies, ice h2o.

The fruit cup tasted as if it was on its last legs but I knew I needed the fruit so I ate it.

And I had a package of (130calories) toffee caramel shortbread cookies for a much needed (scoff!) dessert.

We were finally finished at 9:30 so I could devote my attention to more important things, like food blogging!  Dinner’s plan was sandwiches so I broke out some Quorn Chick’n Nuggets.

I cooked 5nuggets, let them cool, and sliced them up.  Then I tossed them in a sauce made from 1.5T SmartBalance Light and 6 healthy dashes of Tabasco Chipolte.  Then I placed them on a bun with mayo – which meant I got to use my new mayo from Blue Apron.

Finally, I topped the whole thing with some blue cheese crumbles.

And what better side for a Buffalo Chick’n Sandwich then fries (Five Guys) drenched in balsamic vinegar.

 

I more than made up for skipping my fries at lunch.  All together.

And my computer is slower than molasses so this post took long as heck and it’s time for bed!  Sleep tight kiddies!

Doubles and Debacles

I realize I’ve been away three days, but this post is a double because it will just cover the last two.  I’ve been super busy (and tired), but I’m sorry I’ve been a boring blogger.

Thursday morning I had the best train breakfast ever.

Boomi Bars (maple pecan) officially rock my socks!  This was crunchy is the most amazing way and the flavors, salty and sweet, were perfect.

For lunch I packed the 2nd serving of my Pimento Shmento Red Pepper Spread,

along with a serving of Doctor Kracker, a mini almond sample, and a small apple.

I also ate this SmartFood sample for dessert, tasty!

I had to stay late after school for a Smart Board training, and I didn’t get home until after 6.  Somehow I managed to make myself do schoolwork (I’ve been rocking it out this week) before A convinced me to get Thai food for dinner.  We just got a big $ refund from A’s grad school so it seemed like a good way to celebrate.

I went veggie-crazy for dinner.  I had steamed veggie dumplings,

and a carrot and cabbage spicy salad.

So good!  The dumplings were nice and chewy and the salad was like a super spicy (non-mayo-y) slaw.

After dinner we went to the grocery store (at 11:30pm!!!) to do our shopping for next week.  On the way home I rounded out my small dinner withmore veggies, this time the unhealthy kind!

The pizza place we are obsessed with makes the best fries.

For dessert I broke out a grocery store purchase (with a coupon from SWITP)

Jell-O Sugar Free Banana Fudge Supreme Pudding.  I had a cup with Oreos crunched in.

You can also visualize an extra 5 oreos, oops.

Friday morning had a bumpy start – my alarm on my cell phone didn’t work and I way overslept, I ended up throwing my cell phone and breaking it in half!  Yes, I do have a temper, but I was particularly angry because I’ve spent so much time this week doing work in advance for next week and I was so proud of myself for getting up early on a Friday.  I hated myself for the last 1.5years because I always oversleep and this week I’ve been actually getting up and then the alarm doesn’t work!?!

I was 15minutes late to work and I didn’t get to eat anything all day.  After school I came home to meet A to buy a new phone and then I finally got something to eat!  A was super excited about the Grand Canyon Dinner for some reason so we went there.

I ordered the New York Pannini – turkey, bacon, tomato, American cheese, and roasted onions with a side of Russian dressing.

I modified my order for turkey bacon and no butter on the bread.  It was pretty tasty.

A’s meal came with dessert so we split the blueberry pie.

 

I’ve never had canned pie filling before and I was pretty surprised at how sticky it was!

After dinner we walked home and I fell asleep, at 7o’clock!  I must have been exhausted because I was O-U-T out!  I woke up this morning and got started on work, which is why I am not talking about today until later.  I will however tell you a story…..

The Dumpling Debacle

Or as I am calling it, the Foie Gras Faux Pas.  As you guys know, I am semi-vegetarian.  I eat fowl and fish but haven’t eaten pork or red meat (mammal) since the summer before 8th grade.  As it is, I don’t eat a ton of fish and not all that much fowl, I eat a lot fake meats.  But I especially, do NOT eat duck, as they are my favorite creatures on Earth.  I ate duck at a fancy Chinese restaurant once when I was 13 and my aunt and uncle had taken me to NY for my birthday and I cried for days!

Now, you remember the fabulous chicken dumplings from the FoodBuzz event.  The beyond delicious ones I ate two of?  I found out towards the end of the event that they were in fact chicken FOIE GRAS dumplings!  I ate tortured duck?!?!  And loved it!  I would never seek out foie gras (it is so inhumane that even some full-blown meat eaters are againstit) but I have to say, I’m a little glad I tasted it accidentally.  I am such a foodie and there are a lot of big items I’ll never try because I stopped eating “meat” so young – oxtail, marrow, proscutio, etc.  Don’t think I’m a monster!

If you are semi/vegetarian/vegan – have you ever had any accidents?

Long/Quick, Jumbo Shrimp

Hello there!  This could be a looooong post so I’m going to try to keep it brief as I recap the last 2days – I’ve been extra hungry so there’s been a lot of food! 🙂  I’m going to focus just on eats.

For yesterday’s [Tuesday] train breakfast I ate a almond sample and a Soy Joy Apple bar.

I actually got this free in the park after SWITP.  It was very very tasty but I was surprised to see so much dairy (butter, parmesan cheese?!) in a SOY bar.

For lunch I packed a small apple,

a Nacy’s Strawberry Yogurt,

and an Ooba.

All together.

I love mixing jam into yogurt so I liked the idea of Nancy’s yogurt.  It was good, but better in theory, it ended up being a little sweet.  I think that is because I’m usually mixing into Greek yogurt which has more of a tang.  Ooba rocked my socks!  Jenna posted about this a while back and I’ve been jealous for months – when I saw it in a store here I practically peed my pants!  It was every bit as good as imagined – sweet without beeing too sweet, perfectly fizzy.

I was starving and lunch didn’t even make a dent so I ended up getting a single serving of Cheez-Its and a Strawberry Rice Crispies Treat out of the vending machine.

After school I rushed to the train to head to Manhattan.  My exciting event was the FoodBuzz 1millionth post celebration at David Burke Townhouse.  I got there a little early so I made a few fun Manhattan stops.  I stopped in at Dylans and bought A a gift.

And I got a machta energy boost from Jamba Juice.

Then I headed over to the amazing, astonishing, fabulous, fantastic David Burke Townhouse.  I’m going to say in advance that my pictures (grainy and blury because of bad light) don’t even begin to do the food or decor justice.  The restraunt is modern American and the decorating is egg-cellent.

There were a lot of people at the event – food buzz staff and bloggers – and I had some really great conversations.  I got a chance to hang out with Missy, Vani, Sarah, and Diana which was fun and I met Melanie for the first time.  I also spotted an instructor from SWITP and had a long conversation with her!

There were several bars around the restaurant and they had Prosecco (one of my favorites) and fabulous signature lychee martinis.  I had one of each.

In the back room tables of food were set up that blew my mind:

 

There was crab and tuna sushi, oysters, crab legs, HUGE prawns, lobster, and more.  Waiters were also walking around with trays of hot food.  Lobster was everywhere and the egg theme was continued in a truely impressive way.  Everything was basically bite-sized.  Here is what I ate:

crab leg, tuna sushi

prawn, chicken dumpling (I actually had one more unpictured dumpling too, ask me about the dumpling tomorrow, I have a story)

lobster scramble

lox, cracker, creme fresh

lobster flan

crab sushi

lobster dumpling

 chicken and shrimp sate

best crab cake ever

crab leg, tuna sushi

After dinner waiters came around with trays of amazing desserts.  Diana and I were laughing that no matter how full we were we would eat if something new came by (and I did!)  Here are my dessert eats, also all bite-sized:

apple tart

strawberry cheesecake pop

 

butterscotch panna cotta

chocolate cheesecake pop

donut thing – bombolini

grapefruit bar (I wanted to love this – gold dust! – but I actually spit this out!)

Also, instead of mints at the door they had peanut brittle!

The even was 5-7 but I actually didn’t leave until close to 7:20 – I had a great time, thank you so much FoodBuzz!

It took me a long time to get home and an even longer time to wait for A to get home from the city and I ended up being hungry before bedtime!  I was super classy and and this turkey cheddar Lunchable.

I also had Picnic bar (with peanuts and raisins!), my treat from Dylans.

This morning I ate my EAS sample bar for train breakfast.

 

And for lunch I packed the rest of the blackberries,

and this strawberry yogurt.

This True yogurt was vegan and very tasty, I loved the chunks of real strawberry!

After school my insane hunger continued so I had several snacks.  I started by making lunch for tomorrow out of this stuff.

*Note1, I bought Weight Watchers Mexican because it was on sale, my suggestion for the recipe is sharp cheddar.  Note2, I ate about 1/3C of cheese while I was cooking.

Pimento Shmento Spread, serves 2 (x’s amounds as needed)

• 1/3 C small chopped roasted red pepper – about 1 pepper, I patted mine dry with papertowl
• 2/3C shredded reduced fat cheddar
• 2t plain nonfat yogurt

Stir gently to combine.

I ate one serving on a serving of Doctor Kracker Fire Roasted Crisps.

I microwaved it for 30seconds – ooooh, melty! – and ate with a small apple.

I also had a 1/2C serving of Kashi Heart to Heart Blueberry with unsweetened almond milk,

and a spoonful of pb (I told you I was hungry!)

Then I met A at the gym.  When I got there I really wasn’t feeling it, today left me in a really bad mood, but I am so glad that I stuck it out!  I did a 10minute run on the treadmilll.  Then 10minutes on the stairstepper at level 9; I didn’t love this, I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to be staying “up” or let the pedals go to the bottom.  Plus I couldn’t balance without holding on and I know that decreases your actual work out.  Next I did 20minutes of arms on the weight machines, and finished up with 10minutes of abs and stretching on the mat.

When I got home I ate 1serving of jalopeno poppers,

this dark chocolate flower from Godiva (from the Always Infinity event),

and finally this frozen pad thai.

In and of its self it was ok, but this was the worst frozen pad thai I’ve ever had.

Also today, I wrote my plans for next week!  I’m ready for bed.  Sorry for the long/quick post, love ya!

Booze and Birds

Gosh I love Spring!  It was a beyond fabulous day, but it is after midnight so I’m going to try to make this quick.  A and I got up around 9:30 this morning and weren’t really sure what to do with ourselves – it was way too pretty for schoolwork yet!  We ended up deciding to head down to 5th Avenue for brunch.

I was naughty and drank my new favorite beer – Abita Strawberry – on the walk down.

 So perfect on a spring day.

For brunch we decided on Apertivo, a small Italian spot.  We went in on a whim and we are so glad, it was great!  They brought Panatone to the table as soon as we sat down.

I had a piece with apple jelly,

and a piece with butter.

For less than $13 a plate, brunch included booze and caffeine!  Coffee –

I added 1sugar and a splash of cream to mine but ended up only drinking a few sips because it was too rich.

I also had a Bloody Mary.

This was so tasty, it was spicy spicy spicy!  I had never tasted a Bloody Mary before my trip to Boston this year but I think I am going to be hooked 🙂  I only let myself drink half because I knew I had work to do.

For food I ordered the Eggs Florentina- Two poached eggs with Hollandaisesauce on top of steamed spinach and an English muffin.  All the meals came with a potato latke.

Yum!  I only ate half of the latke but I practically licked the rest of the plate clean!  There was a great citrusytang that made this just perfect.  I will say, though, I think I prefer plain sunny side up eggs or poached egg with bread, you just do not need the rich sauce.

The food was so great we knew we wanted to try dessert so A and I split the Chocolate Pyramid.

This was chocolate mousse with a caramel mousse center- tasty!

After brunch we took a long walk around our neighborhood, I say this every time but I love Park Slope!  When we got home I randomly took an intense 2hour nap.  I was o-u-t, if I I didn’t have a deadline to get to Staples I wouldn’t have gotten up.  I lured myself to my desk with candy.

Smarties are basically prettier, yummier M&M’s.  I love the way European candies bubble the calorie count in on the front of the package.  And instead of pretending people will eat small servings they just list the nutrition stats for the whole package, these had 174calories.

As I worked I also snacked on some Danielle Pumpkin Chips.

I had 1serving.

We had to hurry-scurry out the door to make it to Staples in time to do my copies.  We are doing a month on fairy tales and since I’m not allowed to use the text-book I have a ton of copies to make.  On the way home A bought a slice of pizza and he dropped his crust outside our house.  We ended up spending a ridiculously long time sitting on our stoop watching the birds have a feast!  I even went down and broke it up into little pieces to discourage the fights that were breaking out.

Once our bird-watching was over we came back in and got back to work.  Much later, it was time to start dinner.  The recipe was inspired by three things – 1. I am super busy this week and this meal needs to last us through Weds, 2. I finally made my prize-won wheatberries,

3. I need to use this adorable can of tomatos I bought at Whole Foods.

I ended up making Berry Better Than Spaghetti.  Recipe, serves 5

• 2.5C cooked wheatberries
• 1T evoo
• 3/4C chopped onion
• 20 oz extra-lean ground turkey
• salt and pepper
• 1C frozen kale
• 3C canned diced tomatoes, rinsed

1. Pre-make the wheatberries; we did this yesterday since they take an hour to cook.
2. Heat evoo in a saucepan.
3. Add in onions and turkey, season with s&p, cover and cook through.
4. Meanwhile, heat kale in a medium pot.
5. When kale is ready, stir in wheatberries and tomatoes.
6. When meat is cooked, stir into pot with the rest of the ingredients.
7. Cover pot and heat over very low heat for 5minutes.

You could obviously use fresh kale or sub in another type of green, use tomato sauce, use pasta, etc.  We thought the combo was pretty great.  Here is my serving –

Look at those chewy wheatberries.

After dinner I had tons more to do, hence my much too late post/bed time.  A delivered a doomed Peeps couple my way.

I am pretty thrilled to say that my plans, materials, copies, computer presentations, and posters are all done for this week!  I hope you were in bed before me!

Took the Cake

Happy Monday everybody!  Today was actually a really nice day of work.  My kids were well-behaved and we got more done than usual (although still not as much as I would like!).

I started my morning with an Apricot Almond KIND Bar, my fav.

A walked me to my train so I was in a big bliss cloud for most of the ride!

During lunch I was busy setting up my SmartBoard and I didn’t get a chance to eat anything 😦  We had a faculty meeting after school, but I did manage to snag my baggie of green grapes before I went to that.

After the meeting I stayed to clean up my room and call parents so I ended up not getting home until after 6:30!  I organized some things and cooked dinner while I waited for House to begin.  I ate this yogurt when I got home to make up for no lunch.

Wallabyis a brand of Australian organic yogurt.  Nonfat Strawberry Guava was pretty impressive, I love the look of the containers too.  I also ate at least two bites of A’s junk food (pizza and a cupcake).

For dinner I tried out this new preseasoned tofu from More Than Tofu, in peanut ginger.

I sliced it and baked it for 20minutes while I made a side using this stuff:

Heat over low heat in a small pan; 1can seasoned greens + 1/4C blue cheese crumbles + 1/4 unsweetened dried blueberries = Blue Blue Greens.

I ate the entire package of tofu! (360calories) 

It said that there were 4 (90cal) servings but that seemed a little skimpy to me, although half a package would work if you’re not super hungry.  I made a sauce for the side out of stir fry sauce, Chipolte Tabasco, rice vinegar, and honey pb.

Everything was hella yummy!

After House (amazing!) I headed to the gym; I’m proud of myself for making it two days in a row.  I did 15minutes on the elliptical at level 10 and 15minutes on the stepmill at level 7.  I ended with 5minutes of abs/stretching on the mats.  I had a great work out but the bonehead on the machine next to the mats would not stop grunting!  I get that you might struggle at the end of a set but if you are screaming straight through 10+minutes of weights you are doing something wrong!  Even worse was the fact that he kept yelling at himself, berating himself anytime he stopped.  I felt bad for him because it was clear he had some issues but please live out your body issues quietly 🙂

A met me for the walk home and we took a walk around the neighborhood for funsies.  I might have felt the need to go back to Tea Lounge to buy the gigantic Oreo cupcake I was drooling over earlier in the day.

I also might have scraped off all the frosting and thrown the cupcake away [carnage].

I am fully aware that a. this is wasteful and b. it pretty much undid any calories I burned at the gym, but damn it I like cupcakes!  Belly full, I’m off to take a quick shower and snuggle into bed, night!

How do you feel about grunters at the gym?  What is the thing that annoys you while working out?